Battlehurst Farm

Battlehurst Farm in West Sussex is an Arla premium farm with 200 pedigree Holstein cows and an annual yield of 11,200 litres.

Already renowned for having a high health herd with a consistently low cell count, the farm managers goal was to increase the herd size to 230 by June 2021 while staying in the same parlour. The best way to achieve this was to speed up the milking process while retaining a consistently high standard.

With growing pressure from supermarkets to reduce antibiotics use, the ADF dipping and flushing system was the obvious choice of upgrade as it is proven to reduce cell count so would keep the use of antibiotics to a minimum.

Duke Milking Solutions installed the ADF Milking system in September 2020. The system was installed in just a couple of days, in-between milking and without any disruption to the cows or herdsmen.

Cell count down from 100 to 80 in 4 months

20 minutes off each milking

Only one case of mastitis since installing ADF due to automatic dipping and flushing

4 months since the installation and the cell count has already reduced from 100 to 80. The new system has sped each milking up by 20 minutes which has allowed them to widen the intervals between milking, giving the cows more time to themselves before being brought in for the next milking.  The farm manager expects this will help to improve their yield over time.

“The ADF system is a no brainer. It makes milking less physical and more straight forward. The herd health is improved which will ultimately allow us to be more profitable.”

James Lywood – Farm Manager

Another benefit of the ADF system that they are experiencing is the peace of mind it gives them…

“In todays diary farm industry, where good staff are hard to come by the ADF system means we can be confident in letting our younger staff milk, because the ADF system does the dipping and flushing for us. As a manager it removes any worry that the job isn’t being done properly and means we can put more trust in our younger staff which is great for their moral.”

“The maintenance package is great. From a business point of view it makes for better cashflow. Also it’s automatic so I don’t have to ring anyone to order consumables. They just turn up! And Duke Milking Solutions always makes sure got plenty of spare liners and chemicals so we never run out.”

Contact Duke Milking Solutions for a free calculation on how much time and money you can save by upgrading to an ADF system.